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The battle between Rick Scott and Charlie Crist, which unfortunately won’t draw to a close until November, has gotten ugly, really ugly.

Imagine that.

Scott has been the subject of ridicule on national cable news shows because of his unique way of not answering questions, bolstered by videos provided by Crist supporters.

The Scott campaign constantly labels Crist as a professional (and failed) politician and attacks him for not releasing his wife’s tax returns.

Come on. One of these guys is going to be governor unless Crist’s Democratic challenger, former state Sen. Nan Rich, pulls off the greatest political upset of all times.

While the mudslinging is hard to ignore since there’s millions of dollars available to spend on campaign ads, critical issues facing Florida are more important and demand thorough debate by the candidates.

One of those is the state’s environment.

Scott hasn’t been viewed as a particular friend of the environment, but he countered that during a visit with The Florida Times-Union editorial board earlier this week.

“Water quality and water supply will be the biggest issues going forward,” he said.

And because of an improving economy, which he takes credit for, Scott said, “We have the funding to make historic investments in things important to us.”

Among the investments Scott touted were $250 million for restoration of the Everglades, $200 million for nutrient reduction in our waterways and $30 million for protecting the state’s springs.

He pledged to do more, and that “more” needs to be fleshed out during the campaign.

One project he listed was the effort to restore the Indian River Lagoon before it’s too late.

One of the many problems affecting the lagoon is pollution from septic tanks.

Past efforts to regulate septic tanks have faltered because weak-kneed legislators crumbled in the face of heavy lobbying.

Scott was asked where he stood on that issue since it’s critical to restoring the Indian River Lagoon.

He answered those decisions are best made at the local level.

That’s interesting because it flies in the face of the Legislature’s habit of trying to pass weak environmental regulations while preventing local entities from imposing stricter standards.

It’s also interesting because a group of local entities, the state’s water management districts, are being dictated to by Scott’s Department of Environmental Protection.

If Scott indeed wants to reverse that course, it would be a good step forward.

Crist has yet to schedule a visit with the Times-Union editorial board.

But some of his views on the environment were expressed during a meeting with the Tampa Bay Times editorial board on Wednesday.

According to a Times news story, Crist told the board that he would reverse the course Scott has set for the state and that he would clear out Scott’s appointments to the DEP and the water management districts.

He also told the Times he would address global warming and revisit growth management laws.

With the above, we have a start on where Scott and Crist stand on environmental issues. We need to know more.

And if either candidate wants to assure voters they are serious about restoring and protecting the state’s natural resources, there’s a stance to be taken that would be lauded.

An environmental disaster has remained with us for decades because past governors have only given lip service to ending it.

Use the power of the Governor’s Office to breach the Rodman dam and finally restore the Ocklawaha River.